-----Original Message-----
From: Groups [mailto:Groups@wdm.org.uk]
Sent: 28 February 2006 13:17
To: Groups
Subject: WDM monthly groups mailing
Please find below the text only version of March's
Group Mailing.
If you would like to be sent this document as a Word
or PDF format please do
let me know, similarly if you wish to discontinue
receive these emails.
Thank you
Jamie
March 2006
Contents
_____________________________________________________________________
1. Letter from Groups Officer
2. Action Checklist
3. Campaign update ? Dirty Aid, Dirty Water
? Water
privatisation in the dock
? Tanzania
action card
? Dirty
Aid Dirty Water film
? New
campaign report: Pipe Dreams
4.
Campaign update ? Trade Justice
? Right
Corporate Wrongs ? action on new laws for trade justice
? WTO
news: ruling on GM crops
5. Campaign update - Debt and conditionality
? Gordon
- Don't Take the Shirt off Nigeria's back
? The
G8 debt deal and conditionality
? Aid
bill update
6. WDM elections
7. Make Poverty History update
8. DfID White Paper
9. Fairtrade Fortnight
10. Local groups? news
11. Handbook focus: Public Liability insurance
12. Groups? secure webspace update
13. Dates for your Diary
_____________________________________________________________________
1. Letter from Groups Officer
Dear Group Members,
It?s been fantastic to hear all the positive reports
of meetings being held
around the country by WDM groups under the title of
?Make poverty history ..so
where next?? Creating an environment for incisive
discussion and education
around development issues is one of the things WDM
does best, but something we
sometimes focus on least. It is only through
understanding the causes of
injustice and stripping away many of the myths that
are commonly associated
with the rich/poor divide in our world that we can
hope to achieve global
justice.
Of course this isn?t necessarily easy or
straightforward but once you have your
eyes opened to such problems it is only natural to
want to help solve them.
That is where our campaigning comes in, having created
a space for
understanding we also provide ways for people to feel
empowered enough to take
positive actions. Groups are central in this
empowerment as they provide a
supportive environment in which individuals can take
effective actions which
have collective impact.
This month?s World Water Day action provides a great
example of how individuals
can come together as WDM groups across the country and
publicise a vital global
issue in their region and put pressure on
decision-makers. Such actions would
be far harder for individuals to achieve alone. I look
forward to hearing the
reports of your events.
I hope that my support is helping your group achieve
your goals, if there is
anything I can do further please do contact me.
Jamie Clarke
Groups Network Officer
Tel: 020 7737 6215
Email: groups@wdm.org.uk
R 2. Action checklist
Dirty Aid, Dirty Water
c Order
your action pack from Jamie at groups@wdm.org.uk or on 020 7737 6215.
c Plan
roles and responsibilities around the action.
c Contact
the press to come along and publicise the stunt.
c Send
reports and photos of your actions to Jamie.
c Send
off the Tanzanian action card and order more for stalls etc.
Trade Justice
c Send
the Company Law card to your MP and order further copies for other group
members and upcoming events.
Debt and conditionality
c Send
a letter or shirt to Gordon Brown about Nigeria?s debt if you have yet
to do so.
3. Campaign update ? Dirty Aid, Dirty Water
i. World Water Day Action 2006 - Water Privatisation in the Dock
Groups around the country are busy compiling materials,
preparing wigs and
practising oration all in the name of raising the
awareness of the Dirty Aid,
Dirty Water campaign around World Water Day (22nd
March). Bexhill and Hastings
WDM performed their stunt very successfully at their
recent MPH meeting, as can
be seen on the front cover.
If your group has yet to finalise plans don?t worry
there is still time, and
whilst some are going to town on their events, a small
photo opportunity with
minimal preparation and volunteers can be just as
effective as a dramatic
presentation.
WDM activists in Sunderland proved this point by
putting on a very simple stunt
? one of the group represented water business by
wearing a suit and carrying a
folder with ?African water privatisation plan? written
on it. The businessman
was then the lucky recipient of dirty water, poured
over him by local college
students who not only found the whole event hilarious
but it also introduced
them to the important issues. The local paper turned up and ran a
large story
with accompanying picture (see right) and all this was
done by just two
activists and very little planning.
A group action pack has been put together that
contains materials to act as the
basis of any event, big or small. Included in this is
a new Up Close and Ugly
leaflet on the water crisis, a sample of which is
included in this mailing. We
hope this will be a useful way of initially engaging
the public. The pack
contains the Dirty Aid Dirty Water action cards and
leaflets as well as both a
long script, for those with an elaborate performance,
and a short ?town crier?
script for those with less resources.
Those groups who have already requested a pack will be
receiving theirs in the
next few days, other groups can order a pack from
Jamie.
Action points
? Order
your action pack from Jamie at groups@wdm.org.uk or on 020 7737 6215.
? Plan
roles and responsibilities around the action.
? Contact
the press to come along and publicise the stunt using the sample
press release included in the pack.
? Send
reports and photos of your actions to Jamie.
ii Tanzania action Card
As mentioned at the end of last year, UK company
Biwater has brought a case
against Tanzania, one of the poorest countries in the
world, regarding the
termination of
the water contract in Dar es Salaam. Whilst most group members
will already have taken action on this case WDM has
recently created an action
card about it which is enclosed with this mailing.
The Biwater situation is an example of why our Dirty
Aid Dirty Water campaign
is so important. Whilst we hope that these cards may
help to influence Biwater
to withdraw its legal claim against Tanzania, our
ultimate campaign aim is to
influence the UK Government and other decision makers
that create the funding
and environment in which privatisation is seen as the
only solution.
To order further copies of the Tanzania action card
contact the Supporter
Services team on 020 7737 6215 or supporterservices@wdm.org.uk
ii. Dirty
Aid Dirty Water film
The long awaited Dirty Aid Dirty Water film is now
available for group
viewings, public meetings, schools, community groups
or anyone interested in
gaining an insight into this vital campaign. ?Dirty
Aid, Dirty Water? explores
the issues surrounding the global water crisis asking
tough questions of the
existing trend towards privatisation of water
services.
We apologise to those who have waited so patiently for
its release. The delay
originates is because we requested information from
Biwater from the late
arrival of information from Biwater Plc. which WDM had
requested months ago.
Once we had been passed this information we were
obliged to make a minor
adjustment to the content. Those groups who have
ordered the DVD or Video will
be receiving it this week. Groups who have yet to
order a copy but would like
to, please contact Seb on seb@wdm.org.uk or call him on 020 7274 7630.
The film
is free to groups.
iv. New Campaign report: Pipe Dreams
Two of the key arguments for pushing water
privatisation are that it is more
efficient than the public sector, and that it will
bring much needed investment
to extend water and sanitation services to the
poor. These arguments have
proved persuasive and since the early1990s
international development policy has
been based on this thinking.
Fourteen years on, 1.6 billion people still need to be
connected if 2015
Millennium Development Goal on water is to be met. Only
one per cent of private
sector investment has been targeted at sub-Saharan
Africa and South Asia, the
two regions where over half the world?s people without
access to safe water
live. And
in every case in sub-Saharan Africa where the private sector has
committed to invest in extending access to water, it
has failed to deliver the
promised amount.
WDM?s new report Pipe Dreams. The failure of the
private sector to invest in
water services in developing countries explores these
issues in more detail,
detailing how the private sector fails to bring more
investment which can be
used to boost access to water and sanitation. The report will be published for
World Water Day; you will be able to download it from
the WDM main website, or
order a copy from the Supporter Services team on 020
7737 6215 or
4. Campaign update ? Trade Justice
i.
Right Corporate Wrongs ? new laws for trade justice
The Government is proposing a Company Law Reform Bill
which is working its way
through Parliament. WDM as part of the Trade Justice
Movement is lobbying
heavily to work amendments into the Bill that will
make business more
accountable for its actions. The amendments would
stipulate that:
1. Companies
are legally required to report on their social and environmental
impacts.
2. Directors
are legally obliged to minimise damage their company does to local
communities and the environment.
3. People
overseas who are harmed by the activities of a UK company are able to
take action against them in a UK court.
The Bill is currently being looked at in the House of
Lords, and it is expected
to be passed back to the House of Commons in April ?
so now is the time to
lobby your MP to support these amendments. Once the MPs have tabled their
amendments the Bill will be passed between the House
of Lords and the House of
Commons until there is agreement on the content. It will then be passed to the
Queen for Royal Assent, and is likely to become law
late in 2006.
The campaign is now well underway and will be the main
focus of TJM?s work for
the first half of the year. There has already been an early win: last year
Gordon Brown announced a decision to abolish
environmental and social reporting
through the Operating and Financing Review (OFR), but
he has now backed down on
this and is currently consulting on the exact
provisions for environmental and
social reporting to be included in the Company Law
Reform Bill. This first
success in the Right Corporate Wrongs campaign sets a
good precedent for strong
reporting demands to be incorporated into the Bill.
Enclosed in this mailing is our new ?Make business
work for people and planet?
postcard which lays out our demands on the Company Law
Reform Bill. Please
fill it out and send it to your MP as soon as
possible.
For more information about the see www.wdm.org.uk/companyreform/index.htm
Take Action
? Please
complete the enclosed campaign card and send to your MP
? Order
more cards from the Supporter Services team on 020 7737 6215 or
ii WTO News: ruling on GM crops
At the beginning of February the World Trade
Organisation ruled that Europe had
broken international trade rules by blocking the
import of genetically modified
food. The WTO found that Europe had imposed a de facto
ban on Genetically
Modified (GM) food imports for six years from 1998
which violated trade
agreements, and that Austria, France, Germany, Greece,
Italy and Luxembourg
also had no legal grounds to impose their own
unilateral import bans.
The decision is subject to appeal and European
officials insisted it applied to
the past rather than current EU import policies, but
the US maintained the
ruling lent support to the Bush administration's
efforts to force an
acceleration in EU approval procedures for GM food
imports.
WDM was part of a previously successful campaign to
secure UK support for
international rules on trade in Genetically Modified
Organisms and to expose
the myth that GM foods are the solution to world
hunger.
5. Debt and conditionality
i Gordon - Don't Take the Shirt off Nigeria's back
Pressure continues to build on the UK Government to
return the £1.7 billion in
debt repayments it is taking from Nigeria, one of the
poorest and under-aided
countries in the world. Activists from numerous
development groups are taking
part in actions, with a growing number of religious
leaders and politicians
from Archbishop Desmond Tutu to US Congressmen
speaking out.
As part of this campaign WDM Scotland activists
attended a high-profile public
meeting, held by Gordon Brown. Wearing shirts bearing
the slogan ?Gordon - Don?
t take the shirt off Nigeria?s back!?, WDM?s Kirstie
Shirra and Ben Young spoke
with the Chancellor before the meeting. The Chancellor was sufficiently moved
by the protest to bring up the issue in his speech and
Kirstie was called upon
to question the Chancellor from the floor.
We need to keep up the pressure on the UK Government
which is currently
sticking to its line. WDM has compiled a set of
rebuttals to their arguments
against full cancellation, which can be obtained from
Leila (details below).
However, underlying the detail of these arguments is
the principle that the UK
has no legitimate claim to these debts. Most of which
were run up under
dictators, and almost certainly by irresponsible
lending, though conveniently
the UK now says it has no record of what the money was
lent for! Finally it is
also clear that if reducing poverty in Africa really
is a UK Government
priority, this is a straightforward way to contribute
to it, not to mention
helping the Government to meet its pledge ?never to
profit from poor country
debt again?.
WDM will be joining with the Jubilee Debt Campaign on
Budget Day to raise the
issue with Mr Brown. We will be setting up a fake No.
11 Downing Street black
front door, complete with railings and brickwork at
the sides from which Mr
Brown will emerge to hold up a red budget box with the
words ?Paid for by
Nigeria? on them.
Budget day was recently announced as being on 22 March
(some have commented
this may be to deflect media attention away from the
WDM group stunts due to be
held that day!) and the budget stunt will take place
from 10am ? 1pm. If you
are free and would like to take part please let Leila
know (contact details
below).
Thanks to all who have sent in a letter to send to
Gordon Brown calling for the
UK to return the Nigerian debt repayments. It is not too late to take this
action. If you have received a response from the
Treasury on this issue and
want help replying or want more details about Budget
Day, please contact Leila
Dean on 020 7274 7630 or leila@wdm.org.uk .
ii The G8 debt deal and conditionality
The G8 debt deal continues to progress at a
sub-glacial pace with further
meetings in March due to decide on how to implement
the World Bank part of the
debt cancellation, with a risk that it will include
unacceptable conditions.
The latest information also suggests no new countries
beyond the 18 currently
at Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) completion
point will be allowed to
benefit until July 2007 at the earliest, even if they
finish HIPC before then.
In the UK, the Government has finally produced draft
guidelines to implement
its own new policy of not attaching economic
conditions to aid it gives
directly to countries. Unfortunately these guidelines
leave numerous loopholes
that could see it being business as usual in many
countries, so WDM is lobbying
hard to tighten them up. The UK has also yet to agree
that if forcing
privatisation and trade liberalisation on poor
countries is wrong as a
condition of aid, it cannot be right for debt relief.
iii Aid Bill Update
Government intervention has significantly watered down
the content of the new
Aid Bill. As mentioned in the January groups mailing,
Tom Clarke MP has
introduced an International Development (Reporting and
Transparency) Bill, on
which WDM has been lobbying alongside other NGOs. It
went to ?committee stage?
in the middle of February. This provided an
opportunity for amendments to be
tabled by MPs and government.
The NGO group drafted a series of amendments which
were tabled by MPs. These
were designed to further strengthen the Bill by
improving DfID?s reporting on
bilateral spending, on the conditions attached to
DfID?s aid money, and on
meeting the promise to spend 0.7% of GNP on aid.
On the same occasion, the Government drafted their own
amendments. Worryingly,
these advocate a process of much less specific
reporting. DfID made clear it
does not feel that it is necessary to break down the
effectiveness of aid by
each multinational institution, nor to call for an
assessment of the amount of
aid that is not attached to conditions.
For a Private Members Bill to become law, it must have
support from Government,
otherwise it will never be given the time to get
through all the parliamentary
stages. This means that invariably Government
amendments are looked on
favourably.
Added to this obstacle, with the committee meeting only lasting a
couple of hours, many of the proposed amendments were
not tabled. WDM is
waiting to see the next draft of the bill, but it is
likely that it will have
been weakened rather than strengthened if it is to
keep Government backing.
This is very disappointing and WDM feel that, should
DfID?s amendments be
accepted, it will not serve to increase reporting, but
merely collate existing
reporting in one place.
6. World Development Movement Elections 2006
As a democratic organisation WDM?s governance
comprises both a council and a
set of area representatives who are elected every two
years. Both of these
bodies are central to WDM?s effective functioning, and
nominations are now open
for interested members. We would encourage any group
member who is eligible to
think about participating in this key way by putting
themselves forward for
election.
Area Representatives play a particularly strong role
in relation to the network
of WDM activists and groups around the country. The
Area Representative Forum
meets three times a year, and three of its members
have a place on WDM?s
Council, so it acts as a democratic link between the
membership (individual and
collective) and WDM?s Council and staff. Each
representative can bring a local
perspective to WDM?s work and has a role in
influencing the strategic direction
of WDM, as it relates to the membership.
Enclosed in this month?s group mailing is a letter
explaining the election
process and a group nomination form whereby your group
can nominate a WDM
member to either of these bodies. The closing date for
nominations is 13th May.
Should there be need for voting each group who has
paid their subs by 31st
March is entitled to 5 votes and you will receive the
voting papers at the end
of May.
If you would like to know anything further about the
elections please contact
Jamie on 020 7737 6215 or groups@wdm.org.uk
7. Make Poverty History
WDM activists played a central role in many of the
amazing activities that took
place last year and as an organisation we were a key
member of the coordinating
team. In the forthcoming WDM Action magazine our
Director writes a reflective
and honest appraisal of the success and challenges of
MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY.
In conclusion Benedict writes that ?MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY
proved that tackling
global poverty has public support and can be put on
the mainstream political
agenda. It has created huge momentum. But it also
highlights the need for
campaigners to judge governments by their actions not
their words. The
challenge now is to build on that momentum but also
keep engaged in the detail
of policy, so we can hold governments to account to
ensure that promises are
delivered, and that they have no excuse for inaction.?
The need to make the most of the momentum, as well as
the need to make sure
people really know what was and wasn?t achieved last
year, are key reasons why
we decided to organise speaker events on the subject
of ?Makepovertyhistory..
where next?? at this time. Many of you have already
held successful events.
Several themes have emerged from those meetings and we
have found that there is
still a strong public interest in our campaign issues.
WDM was clear from the
start of the MakePovertyHistory campaign that it would
be vital to keep a focus
on the specific campaign demands for better aid, debt
cancellation and trade
justice so that we wouldn?t get ?spun? by the
Government agreeing that they
wanted to make poverty history without actually making
any changes to their
policies. We need to continue with that focus now.
Most progress was made where we had existing
campaigns. We therefore need to
build the number of and connections between local
campaigners around the
country.
We must ensure that the voices heard loudest in our
campaigns are those who are
working themselves out of poverty. We must act in
global solidarity with those
opposing injustice not promoting a UK idea of the
solution.
MAKEPOVERTYHISTORY was conceived of as a campaign for
2005, because of the
opportunities for political change presented by the G8
summit and EU presidency
in that year. At the recent MPH assembly meeting it
was agreed that whilst the
campaign as an entity will now be wound down, people
who had taken part should
be encouraged to become involved with existing groups
working on these issues
to carry forward the momentum. Ways in this is
happening include updating the
MPH website and emailing those who signed up to the
campaign with details of
active organisations. We hope that this will mean
further new activists will be
attracted to the campaigning work of WDM groups.
All groups originally involved can still use the
slogan and the white band
image in publicity, as key tools to capitalise on the
high profile of the
campaign. However, at the assembly meeting it was
agreed that in order to
preserve the power of the 2005 campaign it should be
referred to in the past,
and that all materials that use the slogan and image
should be accompanied by
an organisational logo, such as WDM?s.
8. DfID White Paper
A number of WDM groups have been approached by their
MPs in connection with the
consultation launched by DfID ahead of a new
International Development White
Paper that was mentioned in the last groups mailing.
In order to assist you in
responding to the consultation WDM has put together
some suggested points to
make to DFID and/or to MPs concerning those questions
most relevant to our
areas of expertise.
To receive a copy of these points please contact Jamie
Clarke on 020 7737 6215
or groups@wdm.org.uk . The consultation document can be found at: www.dfid.gov.
uk/wp2006/default.asp
9. Fairtrade fortnight
Fairtrade fortnight (6 ? 19th March) is nearly upon us
and this year?s theme is
?Make Fairtrade your habit?. With the aim of spreading
the word about Fairtrade
and the benefits it brings to farmers and workers in
developing countries the
fortnight is a great way to introduce people to
development issues.
Cambridge WDM is planning a Fairtrade Cafe Crawl to
start off their fortnight.
They are planning to visit cafes along a meandering
route through the city
centre, giving certificates to those who do serve
Fairtrade and giving an
information pack on FT and FT suppliers to those who
don't.
There is still time to order materials from the
Fairtrade Foundation if you
would like to. Contact them on 020 7440 7676 or
through their website www.
fairtrade.org.uk
10.
Groups News
We?ve yet to MakePovertyHistory?. So where next? Public meetings
So far thirteen of the twenty-one meetings have taken
place. Feedback has been
very positive with on average around 50 people
attending, with both experienced
WDM campaigners and individuals new to the
organisation. The Gloucesterhire
group held a jam-packed meeting with over 80 attendees
while the Edinburgh
group reported that the event resulted in new group
members at their subsequent
monthly meeting, a pattern which we hope will be
repeated around the country.
Lively discussions have ensued after speakers?
presentations and we hope that
the rallying call for individuals ?not to leave the
room without planning on
doing something? will inspire everyone who
attends.
Details of meetings taking place in March are
below. For more information on
venues and speakers, including their biographies, go
to www.wdm.org.
uk/wherenext.
If you have any queries on any of these events contact Katharine
on 020 7737 6215 or at katharine@wdm.org.uk.
Wed 1st March London
Mon 6th March Nottingham
Tues 7th March Coventry
Wed 8th March Oxford
Sun 12th March Rochester
Wed 15th March Brighton
Wed 22nd March Bolton
Fri 24th March Manchester
A new website has been launched by the BBC called
Action Network with the
intention of putting people who feel the same way in
touch with one another and
providing information and advice to achieve change in
their area. If anyone in
your group would like to publicise your campaigning
further the website is
currently looking for eight activists or campaigners
to report on their
activities for a year. The website is www.bbc.co.uk/dna/actionnetwork
.
Activists from South West and North West London WDM
spent the night staffing a
stall at a dance night recently. By the end of the
night they had generated a
shirt full of signatures on the Nigeria debt issue and
managed to get 120
people to sign their petition as well as handing out
materials and ceilidh
dancing at 5am!
Bexhill and Hastings WDM geared up for their theatrical performance with a
barn dance at the beginning of Febuary. The night of
dancing not only raised
hundreds of pounds for WDM it also generated great
publicity for the group in
their local paper.
Film Reviews (Both in selected cinemas now)
?Hidden? (Cachˇ) Georges Laurent and his wife find
their comfortable, liberal,
middle-class existence is shattered by the arrival of
sinister videotapes
showing the outside of their house. As the couple?s
lives crumble around their
attempts to solve the mystery, ?Hidden? explores
themes of individual
responsibility, racial prejudice and a continuing fear
of outsiders in our
globalised world. An unsettling, yet thought-provoking
film as reviewed by WDM?
s Cathy Shorter.
Syriana Much publicity surrounds George Clooney?s
latest release, however the
engaging but unsettling focus it takes on the themes
of oil, politics,
corruption and terrorism marks this out as a Hollywood
film worth seeing.
11. Handbook focus: Public liability insurance
WDM has public liability insurance. All registered WDM
groups are covered by
this insurance. The amount of indemnity is £5,000,000
for any one occurrence.
The insurance does not apply to the first £250 of
damages, costs and expenses
payable in respect of each and every occurrence of
loss of, or damage to
property. You may be asked to provide evidence of this
insurance cover by your
local council when you are organising an event. If so,
contact the Groups
Office to request a copy of the insurance schedule.
12. Group?s secure webspace update
The new password protected groups area of the WDM
website is proving to be
popular. This ?secure area? presently has copies of
the groups mailing, sample
letters for action and the Groups Handbook, and we are
in the process of adding
further materials including the WDM logo, Up Close and
Ugly guides and photos.
If there is anything else your group would like to
specifically see in this
area please do let Jamie know.
Access to the secure area can either be through the
main group pages on the
website where there is a button labelled ?Secure area?
or by typing the
following address when you are on the internet: www.wdm.org.
uk/groups/private/index.htm .
You will be then asked to enter the following
information to enter the secure
area:
Username: wdmgroups Password: beehive
13. Dates for your diary
March 6 -22 Public
Meetings: We?ve yet to Make Poverty History ? so where next?
6 ? 19
March Fairtrade
Fortnight
22 March World
Water Day
16 ? 22 March World
Water Forum, Mexico City, Mexico
22 ? 23 April World
Bank / IMF spring meetings, Washington USA
5 ? 9 May European
Social Forum, Athens, Greece
June G8
Summit, St Petersburg, Russia
July 8 Whose
Rules Rule? WDM AGM and Conference, Friends Meeting House,
Euston, London